Pergola + Shade Structure Design-Build
Custom Pergola Builder for the Peninsula & South Bay
Comfortable shade, planned as a structure rather than an afterthought. We work out the pergola alongside the patio, the footings, the drainage, the utilities and the landscape around it.
CA Lic #1099847
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$2M GL · $5M umbrella
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On-time guarantee
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BBB A+
Planning ballpark
From $11,500
for footings, assembly and integration on a unit you supply. Custom wood and premium motorized systems run higher.
Project minimum
$25,000
Completion date
In writing
Verified reviews
80 review listings and recommendations across six platforms as of 2026-08-30
What it costs
How much does a pergola cost in the Bay Area?
Wider than any single number can honestly cover, because four different jobs go by the same word. Here they are, cheapest work to most.
The structure and the thing holding it up are usually priced by two different people. Most of our clients buy the pergola unit itself, direct from the manufacturer, and what Sequoia prices is the footings, the assembly, the integration with the patio and any electrical coordination. That split matters before you compare quotes, because a quote that covers the unit and a quote that does not are answering different questions.
The most common path. Homeowners choose an aluminum louvered kit from a brand like Purple Leaf, Pergolux, Hansø, The Luxury Pergola or Costco and buy it directly. Sequoia prices the part a kit cannot supply: footings sized for the site, assembly, integration with the patio and any electrical coordination. A documented Sequoia scope for exactly this, a louvered structure the client supplied, ran $11,500 to $13,000 for the work underneath it. The unit is separate and is yours to choose: one 12×16 residential kit listed at $2,679 on the manufacturer’s own store when we checked in September 2026.
A custom cedar or redwood structure designed for the space rather than selected from a catalog, on concrete footings with concealed hardware. The San Bruno project below is this. Wood asks for finish maintenance on a schedule set by the material, the coating and the exposure, and we would rather say so now than later.
Covers over frames that are already standing, or a structure whose footings and connections need correcting rather than replacing. The Atherton scope below is this. It is the least expensive line on the page because it is the least work, not because it is what a new pergola costs.
At the top of the market sit the engineered motorized systems: StruXure and its peers. These are quoted installed rather than as a kit, and the going market rate runs roughly $150 to $200 per square foot, which puts a 12×20 at about $36,000 to $48,000 and a large or multi-zone installation well into six figures. If that is the look you are after, it is worth knowing the order of magnitude before the first meeting.
Two documented scopes, and why they are so far apart
The two below are shown for scale, not as a price list, and neither is comparable to the other: the Atherton frames were already standing so that scope is the covers alone, and the San Bruno line groups a pergola with a trellis and a fence. Kit prices belong to the manufacturer and change without notice.
These are planning ballparks, not a rate card. Any figure shown for a completed project is what that specific job cost, on its own site, with its own access, selections and scope. Yours is priced from yours, and the written proposal is the only number that binds either of us.
Structure types
Which shade structure fits your backyard?
Three different products with different rules. Getting this wrong is expensive after the footings are poured.
Open-lattice pergola
Filtered shade and architectural definition, without a weatherproof roof. Wood or aluminum, partial rather than complete rain protection, and a footing, anchorage and wind-load requirement that depends on the span and the site. Wood asks for finish maintenance on a schedule set by the material, the coating and the exposure.
Louvered roof
Adjustable sun control, manual or motorized, with rain management that is specific to the product you select. It brings gutter and downspout routing, electrical service, a control location, optional rain and wind sensors, and access for motor and drainage maintenance. Lighting, fans, heaters and screens have to be ones the manufacturer approves for that system.
Solid-roof patio cover or pavilion
More complete overhead weather protection, and a different structure class rather than a pricier pergola. Roof framing and finish, gutters and downspouts with an approved discharge, attachment or independent supports, greater permit and structural requirements, and fire and ventilation clearances wherever it sits over cooking.
Louvered does not mean waterproof
Some systems are designed to manage rain with the louvers closed. How well, and in what wind, depends on the product, the installation, the seals, the gutters and the drainage design. It is not a property of the category.
The proposal should name the system
Manufacturer, model and the documented weather limitations for that model, in writing. If a quote says only “louvered pergola”, you cannot tell what you are buying or what it will do in February. Our pergola, pavilion and outdoor room comparison goes through the trade-offs.
Attachment
Attached or freestanding?
This decides the structural strategy, the waterproofing and often the permit path.
Continuous with the house
Creates a direct transition from the interior, and asks for a deliberate structural connection and a waterproofing detail at the wall. Depending on the structure and what the building can carry, the answer is sometimes a properly detailed connection and sometimes independent posts set close to the house.
Right when the transition from indoors matters most.
Independent of the house
Takes the house out of the load path, which removes one set of problems and keeps the others: properly sized foundations, anchorage, setbacks, and clearance from buildings, trees and property lines still govern where it can go.
Right when the structure sits out in the yard, or the wall cannot carry it.
Structural planning
A pergola is planned from the ground up
What holds it up is decided before the patio around it is finished. These are the eight things that get skipped.
Posts land on footings, not on paving
A pergola post anchored only to individual pavers has no load path. Footings or piers carry the applicable loads into soil that can take them, and they go in before the finished patio does, not after.
Over a deck, the connection is to framing
A pergola on a deck connects to verified structural framing. Surface boards are a walking surface, not a foundation, and this is one of the more common things we are asked to correct.
Attached means load transfer and waterproofing together
Both, deliberately, at the same detail. A cover lagged to stucco without a flashing strategy is a water problem with a roof over it.
Screens and panels change the wind load
Privacy screens turn an open frame into something the wind pushes against. They belong in the structural plan from the start rather than being added to a structure sized without them.
Accessories add weight, power and clearances
Lighting, fans, heaters and motorized screens each add load, electrical requirements and clearance rules. They are selected before the structural and electrical plans are finished, because retrofitting them is how you find out the frame was not sized for them.
A roof concentrates water somewhere
Louvered and solid roofs collect runoff and put it in one place. That discharge needs an approved route that does not end up against the house, across the patio or on the neighbor’s side of the line.
Footings meet whatever is already underground
Tree roots, utilities, irrigation and drainage all occupy the space a footing wants. Finding them at excavation is a change order; finding them at design is a dimension.
Manufacturer engineering has limits
A system’s engineering covers the configurations its maker tested. It cannot be assumed to cover every site, every footing condition and every accessory combination, and where it does not, that gap is identified rather than ignored.
Permits
Will my pergola need a permit?
It may. Anyone who answers that without knowing the address, the size and whether you want a light in it is guessing.
Requirements depend on the city, the size and height, where it sits relative to the property line, whether it is attached or freestanding, whether the roof is open, louvered or solid, and whether any electrical, plumbing or gas work is included. Zoning, lot coverage, HOA rules and wildfire conditions can each add their own layer.
San Jose: 120 square feet, unless you want a light
San Jose does not require a permit for an accessory structure of 120 square feet or less. That exemption ends the moment the structure includes electricity or plumbing, which then requires a permit no matter the size. Source: the city’s accessory buildings and structures guidance.
The lighting is usually the trigger
Most people asking for a pergola also want it lit, and often heated. That single preference can move a small structure from exempt to permitted. It is worth knowing before the design is settled, not after. Other jurisdictions set their thresholds differently, so we confirm yours for your address.
California’s 2025 building standards took effect on 1 January 2026. Local jurisdictions may adopt their own amendments on top of the state code: the Building Standards Commission publishes the code and the local amendments directory records what individual cities have changed.
If the property sits in a mapped Fire Hazard Severity Zone, ignition-resistant construction and vegetation requirements may apply to the structure and the planting around it. Not every Peninsula property is in one, and you can check an address on the state’s Fire Hazard Severity Zone viewer. For how review runs in the design-review towns, see our Peninsula permits and HOA guide.
Who does what
Licensing, and who is on your property
Stated plainly, because a pergola with power in it touches more than one trade.
Sequoia holds California contractor classifications A (General Engineering), C-8 (Concrete), C-27 (Landscaping), D-06 and D-12, under license #1099847. Sequoia manages the overall outdoor-living scope and coordinates the qualified trades and approvals the selected structure and its accessories require. Each party’s work is identified in the proposal and the project documentation.
One accountable project team coordinates the design, the construction, the trades, the inspections and the handoff. That is a different promise from claiming one crew personally performs every structural, electrical, roofing and specialty component, and it is the one that is true. The scope also changes as the structure does: a non-watertight open pergola and a watertight patio cover with a dedicated circuit are not the same job.
Ask any contractor for their license number and check it at cslb.ca.gov. That applies to us as much as to anyone else.
Cost drivers
What changes the price of a pergola?
Roughly in order of how much each one moves the number.
- Dimensions and heightSpan and post height drive the framing and the footings
- MaterialWood, aluminum, or a proprietary louvered system
- AttachmentAttached to the house or freestanding
- FootingsHow many, how deep, how large, and what the soil requires
- AccessWhether excavation and delivery can reach the location
- Roof and drainageOpen, louvered or solid, and where the water goes
- Engineering and permitsReview scope, and engineering where the project uses it
- FinishColor, trim and coating selections
- Lighting, fans, heatersLoad, circuits, controls and clearances
- Motorized screensAdded wind load, power and maintenance access
- IntegrationPatio, deck or outdoor-kitchen work it has to coordinate with
- Site conflictsTrees, utilities, slope and existing drainage
The surrounding work is often the larger half. A pergola over a new paver patio, beside an outdoor kitchen, or with integrated lighting is scoped and priced as its own lines rather than folded into a structure rate.
Completed work
Two documented pergola scopes
Different scopes at different ends of the range, labeled so you can tell which is which.
Cedar pergola in a complete outdoor room
A cedar pergola, TimberTech deck, paver patio and outdoor kitchen built as one connected space, so the posts, the circulation, the cooking area and the patio geometry were resolved together rather than in sequence.
- Pergola, trellis and fence
- $28,000–$32,000
- Whole project
- $377,500–$431,000
- Completed
- May 2026
Pergola covers over existing frames
A retrofit, and labeled as one. The frames were already standing and this scope is the covers over them, alongside a rebuilt fire pit, terrace and rock channel.
- Pergola covers
- $6,800–$7,500
- Whole project
- $96,150–$106,360
- Scope
- Cover retrofit
Each figure is a line inside a larger project, not a standalone price for a pergola. See all completed projects and their investment ranges.
How it runs
One coordinated plan, from patio to shade
Six steps in this order, because several of them cannot be done later.
Project-fit review
The property, the structure you want, the budget, the timeline, and whether the pergola is part of a larger patio or landscape project. Sometimes the honest answer is that it is not a fit, and that is better said first.
Site and structure planning
Dimensions, sun exposure, attachment conditions, access, utilities, trees, drainage and the doors, windows and rooflines it has to live with.
Material and system selection
Wood, aluminum, louvered or solid-roof, compared on shade, weather expectation, maintenance and how it sits against the architecture. The system is chosen before the details are drawn.
Scope, approvals and engineering
Inclusions, exclusions, who is responsible for permits, structural requirements, trade coordination and product documentation. Engineering is named where an engineer is actually part of the project.
Foundations and construction
Footings and utilities coordinated before the surrounding pavers, decking or landscape finishes go in, because that order cannot be reversed later.
Testing and walkthrough
Motorized equipment and drainage tested where they apply, maintenance requirements reviewed, and the written closeout completed.
We give a project-specific schedule once the structure, the approvals and the site conditions are known. Product lead time and city review often take longer than the build. Completion terms are in writing: see the on-time completion guarantee and financing options.
Check your project fit
Get your pergola project review
Tell us what you want the structure to do, not just how you want it to look: whether you expect it to keep rain off, whether it needs light or heat, and what is already built around it. Pergolas are built as part of qualifying outdoor-living projects starting at $25,000, and we will confirm fit before anyone schedules a visit.
Questions
Straight answers, before you call.
How much does a custom pergola cost?
It depends which of four jobs you mean. Most clients buy an aluminum louvered kit themselves from a brand like Purple Leaf, Pergolux, Hansø or Costco, and Sequoia prices the footings, assembly and integration underneath it: a documented scope for that work, on a client-supplied louvered structure, ran $11,500 to $13,000. A custom wood structure we design and build runs higher, and a documented San Bruno scope grouping a cedar pergola with a vine trellis and fence came to $28,000 to $32,000. Premium motorized systems such as StruXure are quoted installed at roughly $150 to $200 per square foot, so a 12×20 lands near $36,000 to $48,000 and large installations go well beyond it. A retrofit onto frames that already exist is the cheapest thing we do and is not an entry price for a new structure. Sequoia does not take standalone shade-sail installations or minor pergola repairs, and the minimum total project engagement is $25,000.
Do I need a permit for a pergola?
Possibly. It depends on the jurisdiction, the dimensions, the height, the location, whether it is attached, the roof type and whether utilities are involved. Electrical work can trigger a permit even where a small open structure would otherwise be exempt: San Jose, for example, exempts accessory structures of 120 square feet or less but requires a permit at any size once the structure includes electricity or plumbing.
What is the difference between a pergola and a pavilion?
A traditional pergola has an open or partially open overhead structure. A pavilion or solid patio cover has a roof intended to give more complete weather protection, which brings heavier structural and permit requirements. Louvered systems sit between the two and have to be judged on the actual product and configuration rather than the category.
Are louvered pergolas waterproof?
Not as a category. Some systems are designed to manage rain when the louvers are closed, but how well depends on the product, the installation, the seals, the gutters, the wind and the drainage design. The proposal should name the exact system and its documented weather limitations so you can see what you are buying.
Is wood or aluminum better?
Wood gives a natural appearance and takes customization well, and its finish needs maintenance on a schedule set by the material, the coating and the exposure. Aluminum generally asks less of the finish and is what most proprietary louvered systems are built from. The right answer depends on the architecture, the exposure, how you want it to operate and how much upkeep you want to sign up for.
Can a pergola be installed over pavers?
Yes, and the posts generally need structural footings or piers below the paving system rather than support from individual pavers. Footings and post locations are planned before the finished patio goes in, because putting them in afterwards means opening the patio back up.
Can a pergola be attached to my house?
Sometimes. The wall, roofline, framing, waterproofing and permit requirements all have to be evaluated first. Where the building cannot carry it cleanly, a freestanding structure set close to the house is often the better answer and gets you the same feel.
Can lighting, fans or heaters be added?
Often, provided the structure is designed for the added load and the equipment meets the electrical, weather-rating and clearance requirements. These are selected before the structural and electrical plans are finalized rather than added to a frame that was sized without them.
Can I put a grill, fireplace or fire pit beneath a pergola?
Only where the appliance manufacturer’s overhead and side-clearance requirements, the ventilation, the structure materials and the local rules all permit it. Being outdoors is not the same as being approved beneath a structure, and the clearance the manufacturer specifies often decides which appliance you can have.
How is rainwater handled on a louvered pergola?
Many systems route water through integrated channels, gutters and the posts themselves. The discharge still has to go somewhere approved, where it will not damage the patio, the building, the planting or the neighboring property. That route is designed, not left to find its own way.
How long does pergola construction take?
The build itself varies with the system, the foundations and the surrounding work. Design review, engineering, HOA approval, product lead time and city permitting frequently take longer than the physical assembly. We give a project-specific schedule once selections and approvals are confirmed rather than quoting a generic duration.
Ready to plan your pergola?
Tell us what you want the structure to do, not just how it should look. We will confirm whether the site and the scope are a fit, set a completion date in writing, and show you what each part of the work costs. Qualifying projects start at $25,000.